Once Upon a Birthday
by KitKat1701
Summary: ENDGAME SPOILERS! Birthdays are important events. But when you have to go through them without someone you love, they become very different. Each Chapter in this story focuses on a different character coping with the events of Endgame as they grow older. (NOTE: Summary changed since original publish due to requests for add-ons that changed the whole story concept :) )
1. Chapter 1

Morgan Stark had been through a lot in her lifetime, a lot of it bad, but a lot of it good as well. Born into her father's fortune, she was always comfortable. But she never let that get to her head.

As a little girl, Morgan began in a world half the size of the real one. But her family was whole. She had a loving father and mother, and she loved them back 3000. But she could tell that something was missing, from the way her Daddy's eyes would glaze over sometimes and he would get all sad. He never got that way when she was around, but she knew it happened. Sometimes she heard him crying at night, softly wishing for "Peter" and "Strange" to come back, and muttering something about dust and Thanos. Her Mommy would always comfort him, telling him how much she loved him, so Morgan made sure to always tell her daddy how much she loved him too.

Sometimes the Avengers would visit. When that happened her Daddy would get all dark and stormy, but he always made sure to stay happy when Morgan was around. And then came the day that he left. And her Mommy did too. They left Morgan with Happy, promising to be back soon. Daddy hugged her extra tight that day, blinking back tears. Morgan said "I love you 3000, daddy" and he said "I love you more."

Morgan's father never came back.

They told her that it was because he was stuck in a far away place, and he couldn't come back to her. Morgan thought that wasn't so bad, because they told her the place he was in was beautiful, and he would be with a friend named Natasha. Morgan didn't really understand why everyone was crying. Her Daddy was just far away, and she was sure he would come back to her someday, right?

During what Happy said was called a "funeral," so many people came to talk to her. She couldn't remember all of their names. They all said "I'm so sorry, Morgan" and "your father loved you very much." Her uncles Bruce and Steve and Rhodey gave her big hugs, and a girl named Shuri promised to take her to a place called Wakanda one day. There was one person who didn't come to see her, though, so Morgan went to see him.

He stood by the side of the lake, staring out across the water. He was hunched over, his shoulders shaking slightly. She walked over to him and tugged on his pant leg gently.

"Hi, I'm Morgan!"

He sniffled, wiping his eyes quickly and then turning to face her, crouching down to her eye level. He was smiling, but his eyes were red and sad.

"Hi Morgan, I'm Peter."

"Are you my big brother Daddy would always say was missing?"

Peter's eyes widened, welling up with tears again. He reached out and brushed her hair back from her face.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"Why are you sad, big brother?"

"Because I really miss your dad."

Morgan was confused by that. "Is that why everyone is sad? Because they miss my daddy?"

Peter smiled sadly. "Yes, Morgan. It is."

"I miss him too. But I know he still loves me 3000."

Peter wrapped Morgan in a gentle hug. "3000? That's crazy."

"Daddy said that too."

Morgan could feel Peter start to shake.

"Don't be sad, big brother. I can take care of you now."

Tears dropped down Peter's cheeks, and he pulled out of the hug to look her in the eyes.

"I'd like that, Morgan. I'd like that a lot."

It wasn't until Morgan was 8 that she realized her Daddy wasn't in a faraway place. He was dead, which meant he was never coming back.

Her Mommy was having one of her breakdowns, and Happy was talking to her while Peter was sitting with Morgan on her bed. He was reading her one of her favorite stories, but he paused when Mommy's shout could be heard all the way from downstairs.

"Leave me alone, Happy! Tony's dead, and nothing's gonna be okay ever again!"

Morgan realized she didn't quite understand that sentence.

"Petey?"

"Yeah, Baby Stark?"

"What does dead mean?"

All the color drained from Peter's face.

"Uh, well, you know how your dad is in a faraway place?"

"Yes."

"Well, when people die that's where they go. Forever."

"What do you mean?"

"It means that he's never going to come back."

Morgan could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Deep inside of her, she had held on to the hope that her Daddy was going to come back someday. Now that sheltered, young part of her heart was shattering.

"So he's never going to come back to me?"

Peter made sure to talk very gently. "No Morgan, he can't. Everyone dies eventually, it's when they leave this world forever. You'll see him again when it's your time to die."

A tear rolled down Morgan's cheek. "When will that be?"

Peter quickly reached to brush her tears away. "Hopefully when you're very, very old."

Morgan's tears were falling in earnest now. "I don't want to wait that long!"

Peter wrapped his arms around her, and she buried her face into his chest as she sobbed. "Shhh, shhh, it's okay Morgan. I've got you. I've got you."

Morgan cried for hours. It was like the past three years of her life were all rushing out, through her tears and screams and sobs and into Peter's arms. He soothed her, rubbing her back and smoothing her hair, but she just cried and cried and cried for her Daddy that she missed so much. Eventually, Mommy and Happy came into the room because they heard her crying. She felt Peter shift to talk to them, but he didn't relax his arms around her. After she was done, Peter brushed her hair back from her forehead gently. Morgan crawled into her mother's lap.

"I'm sorry, baby," Pepper said, kissing her daughter's forehead.

"Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"Can we have fruit pops?"

Pepper smiled weakly. "Honey, it's late-"

Peter and Happy gave her a look.

"But I suppose, just this once, we can have fruit pops."

Morgan smiled and grabbed Peter's hand, launching herself out of her room and down the stairs at lightning speed, with Peter being dragged behind her.

Pepper stood and leaned against Happy, who put a reassuring arm around her shoulders.

"She's gonna be okay, Pepper."

Pepper managed a weak smile. "Yeah. She's gonna be okay."

TEN YEARS LATER

Morgan woke up with a smile. Today was gonna be a good day. It was her 18th birthday, and like every birthday before it, she couldn't wait to start her day.

Birthdays had always been special for Morgan Stark. She would have breakfast with her mom, and then her friends would come over and she would have a mini party in the morning until Happy came over to pick her up for cheeseburgers. Eventually she grew out of the parties, but never the cheeseburgers.

After lunch Morgan went back home to do whatever she wanted for a while. Her old Uncle Steve would come by at this time until she was 11, when he died. She would sit by the window with Steve for hours, listening to his stories until Peter came to pick her up for ice cream. Well, it used to be ice cream, and then as she grew up they would just drive around or go to the park and talk. As she got older it was harder and harder to spend time with her big brother, but they still loved each other very much.

When she got back home, all the Avengers would be waiting. It was a birthday bash that doubled as a reunion for the Universe's mightiest heroes. Everyone came, even Uncle Thor, Auntie Carol, and the Spacemen, as Morgan had affectionately coined the Guardians when she was six. They would just sit around and talk, like the big, adoring family that they were, eating shawarma. They always left three places- one for Gamora, one for Natasha, and one for her Dad. When her Uncle Steve died, they made sure to leave one for him too.

But, every year as the hours passed, the family would go their separate ways again, leaving Morgan, Pepper, Happy, Peter, and sometimes Harley and Peter's Aunt May. They would eat fruit pops together and talk until it was well past Morgan's bedtime. But Morgan's favorite part of her birthday, every year, without fail, was when she went upstairs to her room and watched a hologram of her dad. He left recordings for every birthday up until 18. This was the last time Morgan would ever hear his voice, and she wasn't quite ready to let him go for good.

"Hey, Morgan. Happy birthday. I know you're going to be sad, and that's okay, but just know that I will love you 3000 forever."

He stopped and laughed to himself. "My little girl's 18 now, she won't need her father anymore."

Morgan laughed slightly, feeling her eyes well up with tears.

"Anyways, I hope you're going to get a good education and pursue your dreams. I know that whatever you want to be, you'll be, and you will do it the best that this world has ever seen. You've been through so much, M, In just a short lifetime. You are worth the entire Universe. All those years ago I saved it for you. I saved it so that you could have a good, long life, with a big brother who I knew would love you till the end of time itself."

He stopped talking to rub his eyes. He was crying, she realized. The great Tony Stark was crying.

"I left you a gift. It's kind of old now but I think it will do the trick. Go to my old lab, and there will be a box labeled 'To Morgan'. It isn't much, but uh- I hope you like it. You're my world Morgan, and you know I have a habit of putting armor around my world. Oh, whoops, I gave it away, didn't I? Well, you're a smart kid. You would have figured it out eventually."

Morgan laughed at that.

"Happy birthday, Morgan. I love you 3000. See you in about 90 years, I hope? Yeah. Goodbye, kid. Go out and rock the world."

The hologram blinked out, and Morgan started running.

She ran, breathless, to her father's old lab, looking frantically for the box with her name on it. She found it, covered in dust, but she didn't care. She flung it open, her jaw dropping at what she found inside.

It was an iron man suit, purple and gold and beautiful. The suit itself was to small for her, made as if to fit her five year old body. But the helmet seemed the perfect size, so she put it on.

Immediately displays lit up, nearly blinding her with their sharp contrast to the darkness outside. To her surprise, she heard a familiar voice speak to her from inside, sending warmth all throughout her body in shimmering golden waves. As it turned out, Tony Stark wasn't really gone after all.

"Hey there, Morgan. Ready to fly?"


	2. Chapter 2

NOTE: Hey guys! So, this story was originally intended as a one shot, but I've gotten an overwhelming response in the first few days so I decided to continue it! I don't really know where this is going to go from here, but please review and tell me what you'd like this story to be and I will try my best to deliver! Without further ado, here's part 2, switching characters but keeping our theme of birthdays.

PART 2- PETER

Birthdays were never quite Peter Parker's thing. Sure, they were great and all, but they just never seemed that important. This one, however, was just plain confusing.

It was technically his 17th birthday, but it was also his 21st. He really didn't know how to interpret his own age anymore, but then again, neither did half of the universe.

The one thing that stood out to him was that it was his first birthday without Tony Stark.

Peter came back from death itself, helped to save the world (well, sorta, he felt like he just ended up getting smacked around a bit) and then watched helplessly as his father figure slipped away in front of him.

So yeah. Turning 17/21 isn't exactly the main thing on Peter's mind right now.

In fact, Peter's really just feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt that he's alive and that Tony isn't. So he takes a detour on the way home- where the surprise party that he knows May and Ned and MJ are not-so-secretly throwing for him awaits- to go to a quieter, much more somber place.

Peter kneels on the ground, his head hung low. He pulls his sleeves over his hands so he can wipe the fog from his vision and more clearly see the slab of stone in front of him, with an iron man mask carved into the stone above the words:

_Anthony Edward Stark_

_1970-2023_

_We love you 3000_

"Hey Mr. Stark," Peter began, struggling to speak past the lump in his throat.

"I, uh, I came today because it's my birthday."

_Wow Peter, you sound so pathetic. _

"And anyways I thought that maybe you would have wanted to see me today?"

He let out a strangled, humorless laugh through the tightness in his throat.

"I guess maybe I was just missing you and I-"

He stopped, feeling a tear slip down his cheek. He was about to swipe it away with his sleeve again when he instead decided to just let it fall and soak the dirt.

"And I-" Peter sobbed, unable to get any words out. So he just cried for a while beside the remains of his mentor, his father figure, one of the people who believed in him when he needed it most. After a long while, Peter swiped his eyes again forcefully and tried to speak.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark- Tony. I'm sorry that I'm here and you're not. I'm sorry that I don't know what to do with my life and that I'm not good enough. And I'm sorry-"

Peter took a long, slow breath, choosing his words carefully.

"And I'm sorry that I'm still here crying about everything instead of being happy, because I know I shouldn't be giving you the added guilt of me being a mess on top of everything else.

"I miss you, Tony. I wish you could be here because I really, really, need to hear your voice right now."

Peter gently traced his fingers across the engravings on the stone.

"I swear to you, Tony," he began again. "I swear that for every birthday after this one I will be strong. I will fight to make you proud, and I will fight for my little sister."

Peter's tears were burning now, burning with their intensity, burning with their truth.

He stood, one hand on the stone.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark. For everything."

Peter turned to walk away, a sweet smelling breeze coming to wash away his tears. He hesitated, turning back to the grave. When he spoke, it was barely a whisper.

"I love you."

A ghostly smile played on Peter's lips. "Dad."

As Peter walked away he stuck his hands in his pockets, staring at the ground. That's why he almost ran into a small ball of energy known as Morgan Stark.

"Petey!" She exclaimed, running towards him.

"Hey, Baby Stark," Peter said weakly, kneeling down to wrap his sister in a hug.

"Why are you sad, Petey? It's your birthday!"

Morgan's brows were furrowed in an adorable display of confusion. It was enough to make Peter smile.

"Sometimes people can be sad on their birthdays."

Morgan bounced a little bit as she replied. "Not me! I'm NEVER gonna be sad on my birthday."

"Yes, but you're special. You shouldn't have to be."

"Mommy sent me outside to give you your present!"

The abrupt subject change took Peter by surprise.

"Present?"

"Your birthday present, silly! Here you go!"

Morgan thrust a small box into Peter's arms. He looked at it, then at Morgan, who had an expectant smile on her face. So Peter opened the box.

It was a framed picture of him and Tony giving each other bunny ears while holding a Stark Internship Certificate. Peter smiled at the memory, and then he noticed a card.

Peter,

I thought you might like to have this. I hope it doesn't open too many emotional wounds. When you're ready, read the back of the photo. I have a feeling it's something you're going to want to see.

Happy Birthday Peter.

-Pepper

Now, Peter didn't know if he was quite ready, but he gently removed the photo from the frame.

Hey, kid.

Peter's breath caught in his throat.

I think you should know a couple things.

If you've received this, then it means that I didn't come back. And I'm sorry about that, I truly am, but I had a feeling that it couldn't be avoided.

I didn't want to save the world. I truly had no interest in doing so, because mine was intact. Or so I thought. The other Avengers who survived the snap were already working on getting everyone back, but I refused to help. By now, you're probably aware that I was the one who came up with the means to time travel, so obviously I had a change of heart. Well, if you came to that conclusion, then you'd be right. I was washing dishes one night and some water splashed on a picture. This picture. I went to wipe it off, and when I saw your face, all my carefully constructed walls fell apart. I felt a hole in my chest (a metaphorical one, inside the real one I guess) and I knew I couldn't let you be gone forever. I saved the world for you, Peter. I didn't want to pay the price, but I know you're worth it.

Take care of Morgan for me. She's going to need a big brother now that she doesn't have a father, and I know you're more than up for the challenge.

You're a good kid, Underoos. Never forget that.

And thank you- for making me a better person.

-TS

Peter swiped away another tear, and bent down to give Morgan another hug.

"Don't cry, big brother. I love you 2000!"

"Only 2000?" Peter teased.

She frowned. "Well, 3000 is for Daddy and Mommy has 2000 so I thought all family should get 2000 too!"

Peter carefully replaced the photo in it's frame and returned it safely to its box before taking Morgan's hand to walk her back inside.

"You know what, little sis? I love you to infinity."

NOTE: Okay, let me know what you guys think! Should I do another chapter, and which character's birthdays would you like to see next?


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